ARA: Where to get women’s shirts pressed affordably

I would like to know if you or anyone else knows where a good place to get womens dress shirts pressed for a reasonable price. I know that women are charged differenly then men because the shirts are smaller and do not fit on the machine properly but I have found that I am paying 7-8 a shirt and my guy friends pays 3-4. Any suggestions in Albany?

I pay about the same everywhere I’ve tried locally. And I’ve heard of guys paying just $0.99 per shirt too!!! I don’t think it’s about the size because I would fit into a standard man’s size; I think it’s the fit. Ladies shirts are fitted differently at the breast and waist. Don’t get me started on how much they charge for a sweater!

to #5 – 99 cents is real great – I haven’t seen that anywhere in the cap. region but by the same token, the reader’s quote of $3-$4 for a man’s shirt is too high.
I would say the lion’s share of places in the cap. region charge between $1.75-$2.50 for mens shirts and $5-$6 for womens.
They are more b/c they have to be hand done. I have not heard of a place to to take my wife’s shirts that has machines small enough to make them the same price.

I was told by the counterperson at our dry cleaners that women’s blouses cost more than men’s shirts because the ladies blouses need to be “dry cleaned” and then pressed and the men’s shirts are “laundered” and then pressed. I guess that dry cleaning is at least double the price of laundering. A suggestion she gave me for cutting down on the cost was to gently wash the blouses (or anything else for that matter) at home and air dry them and them bring them in and ask for “press only”…

@ Maria – I am among the ladies that occasionally need my shirts pressed. I don’t have the money to have them done, but I sometimes need to look nice at work. Whenever I try to press my own shirts they look like crap and I end up burning myself. It’s so bad that my forearms make it seem that I am/was a cutter!

Hey Marlon -I see you on TV once and awhile – speaking out about this and that and say hey I know him from my dad’s store! I’m doing well. Im actually Dr. Jen now – just finished up my PhD over the summer.
I hope Kim was not rehired lol She may have just been visiting or maybe if it was on a Sunday doing laundry next door. :)

Having formerly worked for a dry cleaner, I would like to correct Kim S., as her counterperson gave her incorrect information. The reason womens’ shirts cost more than mens’ not because they are dry cleaned instead of laundered, but because of the pressing. Mens’ shirts are able to be pressed on a machine due to the standard size and shape of them. Womens’ shirts however are, more often than not, smaller, fitted and have bullets in them, and are unable to fit on the machine properly, if at all. Because of this, womens’ shirts are required to be pressed by hand. You’re paying for the extra manual labor involved in that. It’s the same if a man has a shirt that is too big (or too small, but most of the time I saw too big) to fit on the machine and must be pressed by hand; they pay the same price as a woman would.

#17 exactly. Its not like women have only been in the workforce for the past year. To me, its a scam. I’ve gone to numerous cleaners and gotten this BS. I go to the dry cleaner on Central, near Ahl Ave. I think I’m paying $2.50 per shirt but i don’t wear a petite sort of size and my shirts don’t have “bullets”. Sounds like we need a woman to own a dry cleaner!

I would recommend buying yourself a steamer. You can get one at Joann’s for about $150 dollars. This seems really expensive, but you can steam your shirts yourself and if you are paying so much to get your shirts pressed. You can also use the steamer for other things, such as dresses and delicate fabrics that cant necessarily be ironed. The steamer also refreshes the garment. I just got a steamer and I am more than happy to have it because it lessens the trips to the dry cleaners!